Digital Learning in an

Undergraduate Context
Promoting long term student-faculty (and community)
collaboration in the Susquehanna Valley
Katie Faull @KatherineFaull
Diane Jakacki @DianeJakacki

Bucknell University
OBJECTIVES

Undergraduates exposed to DH tools and methods at all
course levels
Learning experiences beyond the classroom provide
collaborative scholarship opportunities for students
Points of engagement grow out of public humanities
projects that encourage student-driven DH engagement

Stories of the Susquehanna Valley (SSV)
Long-term collaborative project
Environmental and cultural-historical humanities, community studies, and
natural history.
Bucknell faculty teach students in research-based learning environments
Bucknell University
Small liberal arts university: 3,600
students; student/teacher ratio 10:1
Rural location emphasizes the
centrality of residential liberal arts
education
Different cultures and diverse
perspectives promote
development of intellectual
maturity, personal conviction and
strength of character (Bucknell
mission statement)
Stories of the Susquehanna and
Bucknell DH are rooted spatial
thinking
SSV-Curricular Overview
Fall 2011
Faull: Nature and
Enlightenment
Siewers: Visions of the
Susquehanna
Fall 2012
Faull/Siewers: Susquehanna
Country (IP course)
SSV-New Course Offerings
Fall 2014
Faull/Jakacki: Digging into
the Digital
Siewers: Visions of the
Susquehanna
Spring 2015
Faull/Siewers: Digitizing the
River (IP course)
Linking pedagogy and research: the SSV model
Motivated students move from coursework to independent research
projects using DH
Public Facing Student Research
Map Layers:
American Indian sites,
Wallaces Indian Paths, and
streams
Geo-referenced ms map
(Unity Archives, Herrhut)
Oil and Gas Wells (DEP GIS
dataset, 2006) categorized
by site statusActive,
Inactive, Abandoned,
Proposed but Never
Materialized


Summer research intern, Emily Bitely 11
New Opportunities: Friedenshtten Diaries
Digital analysis of historically important accounts of Native American
communities on the Upper Susquehanna in the late 18
th
century
Crowdsourced transcription affords German-speaking audiences the
opportunity to participate in transcription process
New Opportunities: Linn Papers
Linns relationship with place offers an opportunity to expand and
reconsider Bucknells commitment to spatial thinking
Multi-modal platform that analyzes people and places across document
types

Conclusion
Undergraduate liberal
arts environment supports
ongoing faculty-student
engagement
DH course work should be
embedded in general
education curriculum
Public humanities
projects attract funding
for student summer
research